Standard thermodynamics routinely studies transitions between low-
and high-entropy states. We explore a few questions not considered so far: What
is the most efficient way to attain a specific high-entropy state? And what is
the most efficient way to move from one specific high-entropy state to another?
Surprisingly, the direct pathway is not the simplest one. We std a seemingly
counterintuitive pathway that attains the desired state efficiently by lowering
the system’s entropy first much below the desired state's entropy and then re-increasing
it in a controlled manner. We dub it "the Ski-Lift Pathway" (SLP), and
explore its bearing on the issues of complexity and information. We then show that
this dynamics is ubiquitous in all biological processes.